The Shadow

Violet stared at the new house her mother had bought in disgust.  It was an old Victorian house that looked as if it had been abandoned for years. The porch steps creaked and groaned when someone stepped on them, the front door banged against the frame and the glass windows were shattered. 

"Why did you buy this house again?" Violet stared at her mother, Anna, and tucked a piece of auburn hair behind her ear. 

"I bought this house for a great price. Plus it's bigger than the one that we used to live in." Anna smiled and lifted one of the boxes that the moving men left. 

Violet followed Anna up the creaky stairs, cringing with each step they took, Anna handed the box over to Violet and got her house key.

"It's not so bad." said Anna as they walked into the house. 

The house was bigger on the inside then it looked on the outside. There was a huge out of date floral carpet on the floor that led up to the staircase and there was a beautiful crystal chandelier hanging in the hall.

 "I love the chandelier. But everything looks so dusty and broken." she saw a huge hole in the side of the wall. 

"It needs some repairs. Other than that this is a beautiful house and you know it!" exclaimed Anna. 

Violet sighed because she knew her mother loved her little projects. Ever since she was little her mother had been obsessed with fixing things and she always had a project she was working on. Violet placed the box down in the hallway and continued on her tour of the house. She came to the dining room which had been painted a dull mustard color, there was yet another floral carpet but this one was a lot smaller than the other.

 "Whoever had this house before us had some bad taste." Violet shook her head and walked out of the room.

"Violet, come here please!" Anna called her from inside the kitchen. 

"What's up?" Anna was pointing to something black on the floor. 

It looked like a dead crow or some kind of bird. 

"Poor dear must have gotten stuck in here." her mother frowned down at it then went to get a plastic bag. Violet walked over to it and she saw that the thing on the floor was indeed a bird. Or what was left of one. The bird had maggots and flies crawling all over it. When she looked closer it looked as if the bird had its throat cut, for the maggots had invaded the cut. The birds' eyes were gone and there was nothing left in the socket just two dark red holes. 

"Mom somebody killed it. The throat's been cut, look." Violet felt like throwing up but she held it down and backed away from the bird. She left the room so that Anna could take care of the dead bird. 

"I'm going upstairs." She announced aloud.

 "This room is mine!" Violet said excitedly. The room was a deep red with cherry wood flooring and a bed made of oak with another chandelier like the one downstairs in the hallway. The bed stood in the center of a glass window and a door that led out onto a balcony. There was a huge vanity on one wall and an oak wood dresser on the other.  

"This room is beautiful!"  she walked past the mirror and what she saw scared her. Violet backed up to get a better look into her vanity mirror. She could have sworn she saw a flash of blonde hair when she walked by the first time. But all she saw was her own auburn hair and wide brown eyes. Suddenly the door to the room slammed closed with a loud bang. Violet twirled around to face the door.

"Mom! Did you just slam my door?"  She was being paranoid and she knew it but she couldn't stop the panic from running up her spine, it made her shiver.

"No!" Anna shouted back from downstairs. A brand new wave of panic washed over Violet and she rushed to get the door open, but it would not budge. She banged and pounded on the door but it wouldn't move.

 "Mom the door won't open!" her breathing was quickening. 

"Mom!" she screamed again and again but it seemed her mother couldn't hear her. The lights started flickering on and off, Violet backed up against the door frightened. She turned back to the door and tried the door knob again, she kicked at the door but it was to no use. She threw a look over her shoulder and saw that there was now a huge looming black shadow making its way towards her.

Violet screamed and threw herself with all her might at the door. Still it was no use and now the figure was only a few feet away from her. It had teeth like a shark and blood was oozing out of its mouth. On its hands were huge long pointed claws that dragged along the floor leaving cravings in the floor behind them. It didn't have feet; it had a ghostly tail that floated off the ground. The shadow didn't seem to have a face just glowing red eyes.A rush of adrenaline hit her and she pushed off from the door and ran for the door to the balcony. As she ran pass the shadow it gave a low growl, like that of a bears, and she heard the whoosh of its claws behind her. Violet bulldozed into the glass door that led to her freedom and as it shattered she felt the sting of the cuts as the glass rained over her.

The sun had fallen and it was now night. The shadow creature followed her threw the door and let out a vicious roar like a lion about to snag its prey.  Violet climbed up on the top of the rail and looked down. It was a long fall but the creature was five feet away. She closed her eyes and just as she was about to jump the claws of the creature sunk into her back and she went over the rail.

"Her body was never found." Said Aunt V as she concluded her campfire story. 

"That was a great story Aunty V!" said little Timmy, he was still clutching at his blanket with wide eyes. Her family all joined in on the compliments then went off to bed. Aunt V sat in front of the fire, staring into it. She chuckled, brushed a piece of auburn hair behind her ear and Aunt Violets eyes glowed red as she turned towards the moon.